Sure, they keep the trappings of communism (People’s Republic, People’s Army, Communist party) but under Deng, they shifted from a state-planned economy to a free-market economy, while keeping the repressive, one-party state.

That’s called “fascism”.

To succeed, it requires a corrupt interplay between business and state, with worker exploitation and lax environmental controls. Take a trip to Shanghai sometime and tell me if it’s working. It’s made a few people very rich, at the expense of millions of workers and citizens.